Patient interface devices used in the field of health care may be used to administer medication and/or therapy and/or monitor an attribute of a patient. In particular, infusion pumps as used in the field of health care are electromechanical devices which control the flow rate of liquid medications and foodstuffs. Infusion pumps may include a mechanical actuator capable of displacing a syringe plunger to expel fluid from a syringe. Other types of infusion pumps may use other mechanisms to effectuate the delivery of fluids.
In veterinary and human health care, infusion pumps are used in the delivery of chemicals, drugs, nutrition, or other products to patients. Typically, one or more substances are combined to form a solution containing one or more medications and are then delivered by an infusion pump to a patient. Such delivery may be into the bloodstream of the patient from a medication source via tubing and an interconnected catheter or into the gut or directly into tissue.
Typically, infusion pumps are capable of controlling the flow rate of the medication to the patient according to a predetermined programmable pattern. Such delivery may be continuous or intermittent. A particular pattern of delivery may be dependent on a combination of local practices, the type of medication being delivered and attributes of the patient.
The process of determining a proper protocol for medication delivery to a patient is often complex and errors may reduce efficacy and may be potentially harmful to patients. As such, automated logic devices have been developed to facilitate the determination and application of medication delivery protocols. Such logic devices have been implemented in infusion pumps to realize improved medication delivery. When implemented in this manner, the infusion devices have been referred to as “smart pumps.” To date, however, systems have not been deployed which recognize, generate and apply the full extent of data employable to further enhance automated facets of medication delivery. Specifically, these systems are either contextually unaware of patient details when computing safety limits on medication infusions, or limit their contextual awareness to a query of patient databases (such as an electronic medical record, also called an EMR, EHR, or eMAR) while initiating the infusion of medication therapy. In order to maintain this limited contextual awareness, these systems must be continuously connected to the patient databases by wired or wireless means in order to function properly. As such they are not tolerant of losses of connectivity due to network failure or poor wireless communication coverage.